The Artist's Life : landscape painting

How Has Social Media Transformed the Art Industry?

Jennifer King — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 03:20:00 GMT

Those of us in the fine art industry know that artists and art galleries have had a long-standing love/hate relationship. Artists love the fact that galleries market and sell works of art, but they hate the fact that the better galleries keep 40% or 50% of every sale. Then along came the Internet, and things actually got worse. Artists started setting up personal websites to sell their own works directly to the public, and social media allowed them to market themselves like the best professionals. Gallery owners feared their efforts would make deep cuts into galleries' profits. For a few years there, the relationship between artists and galleries was seriously contentious. But once it became obvious that web-based art business marketing was here to stay, both groups seemed to adapt to a new way of co-existing peacefully and profitably.


This in-gallery demo brought in people from the nearby community by inviting them online via social media.

Now that the dust has settled, it's clear that there are still many art collectors who will only purchase works of art from art galleries or auction houses. The collectors look to gallerists and curators to provide a level of expertise and unbiased information that they just can't get anywhere else. And now that gallerists and curators understand the important educational role they play, they're using the web to fulfill this role more effectively than ever before. All of today's galleries and auction houses have their own websites, but most also have Facebook business pages along with blogs and Twitter accounts to push out useful, informative snippets of information. In fact, social media is an ideal forum through which all kinds of art dealers can sell their high-ticket "products" by informing, rather than persuading, which is exactly what today's collectors want. Social media platforms are also a great way for these businesses to remind their customers of openings, auctions, and other upcoming events.

However, many eager collectors are also willing to buy direct from artists, especially if they are familiar with an artist's work. And many artists now prefer selling artwork via the web, although some would still rather leave the marketing and sales functions up to a gallery. Those artists who do market their creations can charge the same amounts for works that are sold in galleries, but they get to keep the full amount (minus taxes and shipping, of course). Many artists feel that the increase in revenue more than makes up for the extra time they invest in marketing their own work. And many of these artists have learned to be pretty savvy marketers. Going beyond merely optimizing their websites and waiting for visitors to show up, they are proactively using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more to attract collectors' attention.

Social media has turned the artists' world upside-down in other ways, too. The life of an artist has always been a solitary one, with hours spent working alone in the studio. Professionals artists are a fairly rare breed, too, so unless an artist lives in New York or some other major "art town," there were generally few opportunities to meet other members of the artist tribe. Facebook and other forums have changed all that.

There are now thousands of artists who've joined Facebook, and they've set up literally hundreds of different groups where they can interact. Artists typically set up groups based on something they have in common, so there are groups that run the gamut from Serious Collectors of Realism Art to En Plein Air Paintings and Painters to The Beauty of California by Facebook Painters. And it's more than just online socializing—members are using these groups to connect in real life. For example, one group called KAWA (Kick Ass Women Artists), led by founding member Anne Nelson Sweat, will be holding its first group meeting and landscape painting paint-out in Jackson, Wyoming, in mid-September, and nearly 170 women artists plan to attend.

A smaller, yet still significant, number of artists can also be found participating in art-related forums all over the web. Not only do online art communities like Artist Daily provide a place for artists to connect, they offer a place where beginners can learn from more seasoned professionals by asking questions and watching demonstrations. Similarly, YouTube is loaded with how-to videos for beginners. And all of them, along with social media sites like Deviant Art, allow artists to post their latest creations and get feedback from fellow artists.


	Many collectors are willing to buy direct from artists, especially if they are familiar with an artist's work, rather than in a traditional gallery setting such as this.

Almost inevitably, artists are now using social media as a tool for creating art itself. Just one example is the Creators Project, a collaborative art installation that pops up at events all around the world. It's an idea dreamed up by Intel, Vice, and hundreds of artists. Participants contribute pictures and videos of the events through a variety of apps and other social media tools, then tweet, post, or otherwise communicate the project to art enthusiasts everywhere. Collectively, the images become a work of art.

From artists to art dealers to collectors, art aficionados of every kind are discovering an increasingly large and fascinating world of art online, especially through the use of social media tools. How about you? What are some of your favorite sites and tools?

-Jennifer

Artists and Artistes

Carolyn Henderson — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 03:09:00 GMT

An artiste is something you don't want to be, that is, if you consider yourself an artist.

While it sounds akin to archaic words like poetess or authoress, which in years passed denoted a female poet or author, an artiste is a "sort of" artist, a person who is more concerned with looking and sounding and appearing like their interpretation of being an artist than in actually producing a drawing or painting.


It's a sailboat, on the ocean, on a breezy day. It's okay to use every day, easy to understand words, formed into clear sentences, to describe our paintings and our lives. Just Breezin', original oil painting by Steve Henderson.

They may or may not wear a beret. They may be flamboyant, or deeply brooding and sensual. When they speak, they're difficult to understand because they either 1) use really big words or 2) use words inappropriate to the context. Like this: "The synergistic energy of the revelatory vibrations of organic sensations in this work encapsulates the broad-based foundational experience of the human condition."

I don't know. It looked like a loosely constructed tree in the middle of a sweeping, brushstroke-filled landscape painting to me.

If you're not careful, a brief conversation with an artiste can leave you feeling bumbling, awkward, foolish, and dumb because you can't understand what they are saying, feel as if you should be able to, and are unable to contribute positively to the conversation.

Don't worry. The problem isn't with you. For whatever reason, some people paint a mask on themselves, presenting an artificial front of what they would like to be but know that they're not. Everyone would be a lot happier if they would simply embrace who and what they are and approach their relationships honestly. But that's not how humans act. Recognize this. Know that you're an intelligent person and that you have something to say about art, and if you're cornered against someone who makes you feel that you don't, then excuse yourself to the cheese and crackers table and get away.

--Carolyn

Why I Workshop

Michael Gormley — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:39:00 GMT


We spent a lot of painting time along the cliffs outside San Juan.

Painting can be a pretty isolating affair, and though I love the alone time spent with my muse, I miss the collective energy that working in a group of like-minded colleagues provides. I also want to get better at painting, and though I'm certainly evolving as an artist, that learning process is a pretty steep climb and going it alone can be murder. Then it dawned on me that going it alone is a choice--and frankly not the best one for me right now.

We learn better with others around us because we feel safe--and if we feel safe we're likely to take risks. True learning requires that we let go of perfection---we must stretch our boundaries, leave our comfort zone, allow ourselves to experiment, and even make mistakes. I don't know about you, but I prefer to have some trusted friends, and a dedicated mentor, nearby once I summon the courage to cross the threshold into the unknown and untried.


	The courtyards of the inn kept us fully immersed in nature.

The opportunity to take such a leap presented itself to me a few months ago when I received an invite from Teresa Spinner to attend a plein air painting workshop she was putting together with Judith Carducci. Spinner is a portrait artist and owner of Signilar Art Video, which has been producing high quality instructional videos of today's master artists since 1989. Carducci is likewise a respected portraitist and a seasoned instructor.

The workshop was to be held in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Gallery Inn--which is owned and operated by Jan D'Esopo--Spinner's sister. D'Esopo, an accomplished watercolorist and sculptor, has lived on the property for close to fifty years. Though the house was little more than a royal wreck when she first acquired it, D'Esopo had the vision to transform it, and subsequent adjacent properties, into a magical kingdom replete with planted grottoes, shimmering fountains, and fancy dress dining halls. Now a rustic Spanish castle filled with fine art and period furnishings, it rises majestically atop a high bluff overlooking the fortifications of Old San Juan and the endless sea beyond. Without question the perfect setting for a painting party.

And indeed it was. Spinner and Carducci scouted out landscape sites in advance--though I would have been perfectly content to paint the Inn and its lush courtyards. Old San Juan is a treasure trove of the picturesque--breathtaking natural vistas and compelling architectural forms were to be had at every corner. Our days commenced at dawn as we rushed to the breakers to paint the sun as it crept up over the horizon and bathed the bluffs and forts in a surreal and heavenly light. Group critiques were held over a mid-morning breakfast--freshly prepared omelets and café-con-leche eased the embarrassment of displaying and talking about our still-wet paintings, which never seemed quite up to our hopes and expectations.




Night painting in and around Old San Juan was an atmospheric, moody, and all around exhilarating experience.

We set out again in the afternoon to find the perfect spot that begged to be painted. Open air painting in the tropics is a challenge--squalls are a constant--but then again so are the rainbows. Coming back indoors in the late afternoon, we painted each other, the hotel staff, and for that matter anything that stood still. Carducci was an ever-present and energetic cheerleader, making the rounds to the workshop participants and ever ready to share her encyclopedic grasp of picture making. Demoing throughout the five-day workshop, Carducci's light-filled landscape paintings were an inspiration; and her nocturnes magical in their economy of line, compositional force, and striking play of color.

In three days I became unrecognizable to myself--transformed into something and someone else. "I" the artist, meaning "I" in the sense of the almighty "I", slipped away and in its stead I became an earnest seeker among fellow earnest seekers striving to channel the sights, sounds and smells of life in Old San Juan into sensitive and spirited works of art. I like to think that we succeeded.

If you'd like to see if you might have the same kind of transformational experience in a workshop, be sure to watch out for the March/April issue of American Artist. It is our 75th anniversary issue and comes with our annual workshop and art school directory.

--Michael

Michael Gormley is the editorial director of American Artist magazine.

May I Introduce Edward Minoff?

Courtney Jordan — Sun, 01 May 2011 05:57:00 GMT


Breton Wash Basin by Edward Minoff, oil painting.

Edward Minoff: Weekend With the Masters Instructor

Edward Minoff graduated with honors from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Throughout his high-school and college years he studied painting and sculpture at the Art Students League of New York, the National Academy of Design, and at Vassar College.

He has copied some of the greatest works of Western Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Hispanic Society, The Prado, and The Louvre, among others.

After co-founding the animation house AMPnyc, he began to study with Jacob Collins at the Water Street Atelier and eventually left commercial work to devote himself entirely to painting.

Later in his career he journeyed to Italy to study at The Florence Academy of Art. He is a core instructor at the Grand Central Academy of Art and a co-founder of the Hudson River Fellowship. In terms of his own artistic development, the study of the painters Frederic Edwin Church, Asher B. Durand, and William Trost Richards, among others, helped to hone his process. Many clues were found not only in their paintings and studies but also in correspondence, including the tremendously insightful "Letters on Landscape Painting" column written by Asher B. Durand and published in The Crayon.

His brushwork displays a daring bravura, particularly in his seascapes where moody waves crest and break with intensity. Other outdoor painting scenes are composed from high, dramatic points of view, as seen in his work from the Catskill Mountains of New York. In his still life work, his palette becomes bright and inviting with warm reds, oranges, and yellows. A truly versatile artist, Minoff displays a remarkable talent for portraying the human figure as well.

In 2004, he staged his second one-man show with the John Pence Gallery and received rave reviews. His most recent solo exhibition in San Francisco was presented in October-November, 2010. He has also shown with galleries in Connecticut, Houston, TX and Sag Harbor, N.Y. For more information, visit his website.

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May I Introduce Jean-Pierre Roy?

Courtney Jordan — Sun, 01 May 2011 03:48:00 GMT


A Wind to Ward Off Dreams by Jean-Pierre Roy, 58 x 68, oil painting, 2010.

Jean-Pierre Roy: Weekend With the Masters Instructor

Jean-Pierre Roy is an artist and teacher currently living and working in New York City. Born in Santa Monica in 1974, Roy pursued a B.F.A. in Film at Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles. Following stints at Stan Winston Studios, DreamWorks, Fox and a myriad of small production houses, Roy moved to New York in 2001 to pursue a graduate art education.

He received his M.F.A. from The New York Academy of Art in 2002 and studied in an artistic anatomy program at Teddy Hall, in Oxford, England, earning a third year residency at the academy. Inspired by his cinematic cultural history and his identification with romantic landscape painting, Roy's work presents a sublime pictorial space for the contemplation of our current political, technological, and environmental anxieties. Drawing from a variety of influences including film and video game-scapes, the artist imagines dark, contemporary landscapes that hint at destruction on a grand scale. How the story unfolds is left up to the viewer.

The artist's first New York solo exhibition was in 2005, and his narrative landscapes have since been exhibited internationally. During 2008 and 2009, Roy exhibited at The Torrance Art Museum in California (solo show); the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY; The Art Students League of New York; The Puffin Foundation in New Jersey; The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago; and The Firehouse Gallery in Burlington, VT. One of the artist's paintings owned by the Zabludowicz Art Trust is reproduced in Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture published by Front Forty Press in 2008. This hard-cover volume features images by over 60 artists accompanied by writings and essays that explore artists' ideas about the end of times. He recently had his fifth solo exhibition at Rare Gallery, in New York City. His second museum exhibition is scheduled for the summer of 2011 at the CAC in Virginia.

Roy's work is included in the collections of Anita and Poju Zabludowitz, the Hellengers, Leonardo Di Caprio, Eric Fischl, Kirkland and Ellis, and Jean Pigozzi. He has been published in The New York Times, Art in America, The Chicago Tribune, Art Forum, The Village Voice, and The Seattle Stranger. For more information, visit his website.

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May I Introduce Kevin Macpherson?

Courtney Jordan — Sun, 01 May 2011 03:42:00 GMT


Santa Catalina Island by Kevin Macpherson, oil painting, 30 x 50.

Kevin Macpherson: Weekend With the Masters Instructor

Kevin Macpherson is one of the country's leading plein air painters and is highly respected among collectors and fellow artists alike. Past president of the Plein-Air Painters of America, Macpherson is a popular instructor,guest lecturer, and art juror throughout the country and abroad. His painting workshops are highly attended, often selling out years in advance. Macpherson is sought after as an art judge, curator, and speaker around the country, and his clear, concise teaching method has inspired and directed thousands of plein air painters.

Macpherson's work is nationally recognized and collected and has attracted the attention of major art collectors, including Roy Rose, the grand-nephew of acclaimed California plein air painter Guy Rose. The artist has won numerous national awards, including so many in national Oil Painters of America competitions that he is the first artist in the organization to be elevated from Signature Member status to that of Master Signature Member. Macpherson excels in his ability to paint all subject matter: landscape, still life, and figurative works. Using spontaneous brushwork and candid color, the artist's work reveals his interpretive and creative virtuosity. He easily manipulates the elements of an artist's "visual toolbox" to capture the mood of his subject, whether it be the dramatic light of Southern France, the rugged beauty of the California coast, or the brilliance of dappled light through a floral still life.

Macpherson's work has been featured in many national magazines, including Art of the West, Art Talk, U. S. Art, Wildlife Art and has graced the covers of Southwest Art, American Artist, International Artist, and The Artist's Magazine. He is also a contributing editor to Southwest Art and author of "The Artist's Voice, 2000." In addition to numerous gallery exhibitions, Macpherson has shown with several museums throughout the country. He is the author of Landscape Painting Inside & Out (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio) andReflections on a Pond: A Visual Journal (Studio Escondido Books, Taos, New Mexico), and his popular instructional book, Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light and Color, now in its ninth printing, has been translated into the Chinese language and has quickly become a bestseller for publisher North Light Books.

Macpherson makes his home in the mountains of Taos, New Mexico, merging his influences from years in Arizona with his childhood memories of New Jersey. Bitten with wanderlust, the artist and his wife Wanda can be seen anywhere in the world painting en plein air. He is represented by Redfern Gallery, in Laguna Beach, California, and Studio Escondido, in Taos, New Mexico. For more information on Macpherson, visit his website.

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May I Introduce Richard Schmid?

Courtney Jordan — Sun, 01 May 2011 03:40:00 GMT


	Throughout his career, Richard Schmid has promoted art education through his books, articles, workshops, seminars, and television presentations.

Richard Schmid: Weekend With the Masters Instructor

Richard Schmid was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1934. His earliest artistic influence came from his maternal grandfather, Julian Oates, an architectural sculptor. Richard’s initial studies in landscape painting, figure drawing, and anatomy began at the age of twelve and continued into classical techniques under William H. Mosby at the American Academy of Art in Chicago.

Mosby, a graduate of the Belgian Royal Academy in Brussels and the Superior Institute in Antwerp, was a technical expert on European and American realism. Studies with him involved working exclusively from life, at first using the conceptual and technical methods and oil painting techniques of the Flemish, Dutch, and Spanish masters, and eventually all of the late 19th century European and American painters. The emphasis in each period was on Alla Prima, or Direct Painting systems of the various periods. However, Richard’s individual style and the content of his work developed along personal lines.

In 2005, Richard Schmid was presented with the Gold Medal award from the Portrait Society of America during their annual portrait conference held in Washington DC. Richard is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, CT.

At ceremonies hosted by the American Society of Portrait Artists in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2000, Richard Schmid received the John Singer Sargent Medal for Lifetime Achievement. Richard Ormond, Sargent’s grandnephew, presented the award. In May 2005, Schmid received the prestigious gold-medal award from The Portrait Society of America at their annual conference held in Washington, DC.

Throughout his career, Richard Schmid has promoted art education through his books, articles, workshops, seminars, and television presentations. He travels widely in the Western Hemisphere for his subjects, and currently lives in New Hampshire with his wife, Nancy Guzik.

Richard Schmid’s work is represented by West Wind Fine Art, Falmouth, MA on Cape Cod. For more information contact: Kristen Thies, CEO/Co-Founder: Kristen@WestWindFineArt.com or call 508-444-687.

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May I Introduce Frank Serrano?

Courtney Jordan — Sun, 01 May 2011 03:33:00 GMT


Sunlit Birch by Frank Serrano, oil on canvas, 12 x 12.

Frank Serrano: Weekend With the Masters Instructor

Contemporary landscape artist and plein air painter Frank M. Serrano was born in Los Angeles on November 29, 1967. He developed an early interest in art and nature, studying throughout his school days, but is largely self-taught. His natural talent eventually gained him a lucrative career as a freelance commercial artist. After his success in the commercial field, in the early 1990s Serrano decided to pursue his passion for traditional oil painting and has since developed a strong following of admirers, both nationally and internationally.

Serrano, an avid outdoorsman, is recognized for his keen sense of atmospheric observation and his ability to spontaneously interpret his personal connection with nature on canvas. His popular instructional book Plein Air Painting in Oil (Walter Foster Publishing, Laguna, California) has served as a handbook to budding plein air artists and collectors since 2003, and he is also featured in Walter-Foster's latest book The Art of Oil Painting. Since August of 2006 Serrano has served as plein air-painting consultant for Walt Disney Studios.

Serrano travels widely throughout North America painting scenes from the desert Southwest to the beautiful high-country vistas of the Canadian Rockies. A hallmark of Serrano's work is his unique talent for capturing the hazy atmosphere characteristic of the West. Serrano cites early landscape artist Sam Hyde Harris as a major influence in his work.

"Painting on location enriches my life, and the paintings do not exist as mere pictures, but as a journal through which I can express all my senses," the artist says. Although the majority of Serrano's paintings are done on location alla prima, he also works in his studio creating larger paintings from his outdoor sketches. He believes the only way to learn to paint is from life.

Serrano is an artist-member of the California Art Club, for which he served as a chairman of the Gold Medal Juried Exhibitions of 2004, 2005, and 2006. He is represented by Maureen Murphy Fine Arts, in Santa Barbara, California; Cody Fine Art, in Wyoming; and Collectors Covey, in Dallas. For more information on Serrano, visit his website.

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May I Introduce Joseph McGurl?

Courtney Jordan — Sun, 01 May 2011 03:24:00 GMT


Light at Sunset by Joseph McGurl, oil painting, 24 x 36.

Joseph McGurl: Weekend With the Masters Instructor

Joseph McGurl has been referred to as one of the acknowledged leaders in the current American landscape painting arena. This has been confirmed by his exhibitions in several important museum shows, a successful relationship with some of the country's leading galleries, and inclusion in numerous magazine articles and books.

McGurl was born in Massachusetts in 1958. He grew up working with his father, James McGurl, who was a muralist and his most influential teacher. He graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a dual major in painting and education and also studied in England and Italy. In search of a more solid training in drawing, he sought out Robert Cormier, a devotee of the French Academy methods, and studied figure drawing under him. After college, McGurl worked as a yacht captain, sailing throughout the East Coast from Maine to the Caribbean.

The artist’s paintings are often seen in relationship to the great 19th-century Luminist painters but with a thoroughly modern approach to style and subject. For him, the process, rather than the product, is the most important part of a painting. For this reason, his large studio paintings are developed from sketches painted on location. Rather than relying on photography, this method gives him the freedom to create paintings based on his imagination, memory, and his sketches. Although the objects depicted in the paintings are elements of the landscape and have a deep personal meaning to him, an equally important subject is an exploration of light, form, space, and color interpreted through paint.

McGurl's paintings have been included in several museum exhibitions in Massachusetts, New York, California, and Rhode Island. He had retrospective solo shows at the Cape Museum of Art, The Cahoon Museum of American Art, and the Saint Botolph Club of Boston, and he has participated in many traveling exhibitions and shows. McGurl has been elected to the Guild of Boston Artists and is a Copley Master with the Copley Society of Boston. He has won top awards from both organizations including the John Singleton Copley Award for Artistic Achievement. In addition, he is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists and a member of the St. Botolph Club of Boston. He has also been the subject of numerous book and magazine articles. He is represented by Hammer Galleries, in New York City;Tree’s Place Gallery, in Orleans, Massachusetts; John Pence Gallery, in San Francisco; and The Guild of Boston Artists, in Boston.

During the summer months he cruises the coast of New England with his wife and children aboard their classic Alden designed ketch, "Atelier," which he uses as a floating studio; many of his sketches are executed from her decks. After living for several years in Rhode Island, Joseph, his wife Patricia, and sons Max and Sean moved to Cape Cod in 1994. Their home and studio is a restored 19th-century carriage house on the shore of Amrita Island. For more information on McGurl, visit his website.

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May I Introduce Joseph Paquet?

Courtney Jordan — Sun, 01 May 2011 03:04:00 GMT


Morning Light Crystal Cove, by Joe Paquet, oil painting on linen.

Joseph Paquet: Weekend With the Masters Instructor

Joseph Paquet received his Bachelors of Fine Art at the School of Visual Arts, in New York City, and had the good fortune of being mentored by John Foote, who opened his eyes to the joys of drawing the human figure.

After graduating, Paquet met another major influence in his life, John Phillip Osborne, who was a uniquely gifted artist and teacher. Osborne believed that a landscape painting should begin on location, but that its poetic essence should be completed in the solitude of the artist's studio. Paquet experienced a demanding and rewarding apprenticeship, in which he learned to fuse field studies with the image he could see in his mind's eye. To summarize this experience, he explains, "The intellectual process became married to the intuitive. Paint what you know well as what you see." He goes on to expand the possibilities, "If I have the need or desire to move a mountain, add a figure or change the course of a river, I can do so. I am no longer shackled to nature. Now, I am painting my picture."

Increasingly however, Paquet is creating most of his work from life, believing that the direct correspondence with nature increases the potential for greater feeling. He has been featured in The Washington Post Sunday Magazine, The Artist's Magazine, American Artist, Southwest Art, and Plein Air Magazine.

Paquet's awards include both Artist's Choice and Collector's Choice from The 2007 Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational as well as the 2008 Alden Bryan Memorial Prize from The Salmagundi Club, First Place in Landscape from the Richeson 75: Artist's Choice Competition and The Edgar Payne Award for Best Landscape at the 97th Annual Gold Medal Show at the California Art Club. Paquet is a Signature Member of The Plein-Air Painters of America, The Salmagundi Club, and an Out-of-State Artist Member of The California Art Club. Paquet teaches and paints at Hurinenko and Paquet Studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. For more information on Paquet, visit his website.

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Get Some Gallery Love: Part 2

Jennifer King — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:08:00 GMT


One of my paintings, Life Immense In Passion (oil, 12 x 12 in.), was selected to be part of the Romantic Landscapes show at Greenwich House Gallery.

In my post on building healthy relationships with galleries, I explained that the top-selling couple of artists in any gallery are usually the same few who get heavily promoted as individuals by name. The rest of the gallery's stable of artists typically get promoted as a group. If you're in this second category but you'd sell your grandmother to be in the first, it's time to take action! Be proactive and take steps that will help your gallery reps sell more of your work. Here are some ideas:

Write your story. Every marketing guru will tell you that an incredibly effective sales technique is telling the story of a product's creation and/or its creator, and this is especially true in art. So, what's your story? Think of something interesting about how you became an artist or about how or why you make art, and write it down in one or two sentences. Then turn this short description over to your sales rep so he'll be able to tell your story concisely whenever a client shows an interest in your work.

Create a promotional kit. You may not know this, but galleries often put together little promo books for their top artists. If your gallery reps haven't created one for you yet, make one for them. In a slim binder in a sober color, fill plastic sleeves with copies of your bio, resume, a dozen printed, color-corrected examples of commissions and other sold paintings, and other related literature, such as postcard invites from previous shows or press clippings about you. The next time a client shows interest in your work, your rep can show her the book--very impressive!

Provide quality jpegs. Virtually every gallery has a website. Make it easy for your reps to use this tool to sell your work by automatically sending them top-quality jpegs of every new piece you deliver. If you don't have the equipment or skills to create them, hire a professional.


		When I suggested a showing of 10 landscape artists, including me, my gallery reps jumped on the idea. The show was called Romantic Landscapes.

Present your work like a pro. One of the worst and most common mistakes artists make is putting cheap, tacky, or inappropriate frames on their work. Believe me, I get how expensive framing is. But if there's any way you can afford better frames, that investment will come back to you in the form of increased sales at higher prices. If you absolutely can't afford quality frames, talk to your gallery reps. If they really believe in the sales potential of your work, they may be willing to foot the cost of good frames, which will simply be deducted from the sale price of your paintings before determining the split.

Suggest a show. It's only natural to dream of having a solo show in your gallery, but until you're a top earner that opportunity is probably a long way off. Shows are extremely expensive to put on (really! a couple thousand easily!), and galleries need to hedge their bets by investing in those artists that are most likely to produce a good return on that investment. But why not suggest a group show, perhaps on a theme that relates to work from a number of different artists already represented by the gallery, including you? The worst that can happen is that your gallery rep will say no... but she just might say yes.

This may sound like a lot of work, but you'd be making all the same moves if you were selling direct to the public. And who knows? With enough effort, you just may work yourself up to the top of the heap. I have one more post to go on this topic, but until then let me know if you have great ideas of your own to add.

--Jennifer

A Simple Formula for Pricing Artwork

Lori Woodward — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:57:00 GMT

Pricing artwork is one of the most complex tasks that emerging artists face, especially when they first begin to work with galleries. It's easy to see by reading art business articles and books on art marketing that the opinions of the experts vary.


Otter Point, Acadia by Lori Woodward, acrylic on paper, 7 x 13.5.

To make it even more complicated, we artists sometimes price with our emotions. Some artists overprice their work in order to impress viewers, hoping to make the artwork look more valuable. Sometimes this works, but usually only when the collector is naive or when the artwork is spectacular and gets the attention of serious collectors.

When I price with my emotion, I tend to lower my prices because I feel sorry that the collector has to spend so much. Now, don't get on me for this ... it's the truth. I'm an empathetic type, but I need to be careful to not price my work based on how I feel about it or collectors. In other words, I need to look at pricing and how to sell artwork objectively.

Putting emotions aside, let me share a simple formula that many of my professional artist friends have used when first starting to sell their work. I still use this formula. Remember that pricing reflects your position and reputation in the art-selling world more than what your art looks like. If you're relatively unknown to collectors and don't have many credentials—such as having placed in competitions, shown with a well-known gallery, or had your work published—you really can't get the same prices as artists who do have those credentials.

When you're first starting out, it's a good idea to make your work as affordable as you can while being able to cover your costs and make a small profit. Don't charge so little that you don't break even. Remember that galleries often take a 50 percent commission from sales, so you'll have to take that into consideration.

Here's the formula that I recommend:

First, multiply the painting's width by its length to arrive at the total size, in square inches. Then multiply that number by a set dollar amount that's appropriate for your reputation. I currently use $6 per square inch for oil paintings. Then calculate your cost of canvas and framing, and then double that number. For example: A 16”-x-20” oil-on-linen landscape painting: 16” x 20” = 320 square inches

I price my oil paintings at $6 per square inch. 320 x 6 = $1,920.00, and I round this down to $1,900. My frame, canvas and materials cost me $150.00 (I buy framing wholesale). I double this cost so that I'll get it all back when the painting sells at the gallery. Otherwise, I'm subsidizing the collector by giving him or her the frame for free. $150 x 2 = $300

Then I put it all together: $1,900 + $300 = $2,200 (the retail price). When the painting sells from a gallery, my cut after the 50 percent commission is paid comes to $950 for the painting and $150 for the framing, for a total of $1,100.

For much larger pieces, I'll bring the price per square inch down a notch ... maybe a dollar or two lower so that I don't price my work beyond what my reputation can sustain. Alternately, for smaller works, I'll increase the dollar per square inch because small works take almost as much effort as larger works, and I need to be compensated for my expertise, even when the work is miniature.

This is not the only way to price artwork, but it's one that keeps my selling art prices consistent. Keep in mind that my prices were much lower 10 years ago when my artwork was relatively unknown to collectors. It's important to note here that when I have a great selling year, I raise my prices by 10 percent. When the economy is poor or my sales are slow, I don't raise prices at all.

I hopes this give you a place to start. If you're just selling at local outdoor shows and are entering the art market, I would suggest that you keep your dollar amount much lower than mine. I've been selling my work for 14 years. There are ways that I could increase the worth and therefore the price of my art, but I'll talk about that in a later blog post.

--Lori